WASHINGTON – President Bush played cheerleader on the patients’ bill of rights as House Republicans yesterday moved to hand him a major win by passing a bill that he likes.

“Get it done!” Bush exhorted as he and Vice President Dick Cheney made an unusual tag-team trip to Capitol Hill to lobby for the deal he cut on Wednesday with Rep. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.), a dentist and leader on health issues.

The plan guarantees patients that they can see gynecologists and other specialists, use emergency rooms and sue heartless HMOs – but lawsuits would be capped at $1.5 million, far less than the $5 million cap in a Senate bill.

A health-care win can send Bush off to his Texas ranch for a month-long vacation riding a high – even before that, a Washington Post poll yesterday put Bush’s job approval up to 59 percent.

Democratic frustration was clear as House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt fumed: “In the name of God . . . vote against this bill.”

The American Medical Association, on behalf of doctors, also objected to the bill, claiming “it helps HMOs more than it helps patients.”

Democrats chose patient rights as their signature issue, and – until Bush cut his last-minute deal – had planned to spend the August congressional break blasting him as insensitive to HMO horrors.

But now, the debate is over details, and Bush, like the Democrats, can argue that he backs a patients’ rights bill; polls show that most voters worry about access to care a lot more than the right to sue.